Copy Haho September 2010

It was like a home from home when Godzilla Blues managed to see two Stonehaven bands on the same bill at Drummonds with Copy Haho and Pre-Teens sandwiching A’Zi Cool.

A couple of pre-gig pints in the Prince of Wales led to me missing some of the Pre-Teens set. I’m not sure what the story is with this lot, I believe they come from my hometown of Stonehaven and are new on the local scene, in any case they play quite a perky indie-rock and seem to go down well with the crowd at the front who I suspect are largely friends of the band. They were not bad, singer was a bit flat to my ears but if this is indeed early days there is a lot of potential there.

The next band on, A’Zi Cool are a bit of an oddity on the local music scene being a rap act and I will admit I was a bit sceptical about how this would be with fears of Doric rapping or some such. As it happens they ended up being quite enjoyable. Two gents took the stage to set up the opening laptop and turntable backing tracks before the two frontmen took to the stage. One is called Kuda and presents the traditional image of the black rap MC while his partner is a French guy whose name I never caught. I quite liked the contrast between the 2 rhyming styles and the backing tracks sounded quite good, unfortunately the sound didn’t really give it the best representation.

Copy Haho also hail from Stonehaven so I have a bit of a soft spot for them and it helps that they are a good band. I was actually listening to the split EP they did some years back with Dedalus under their old moniker Politik the other week; those recordings show the early signs of young lads trying to replicate the sound of established ‘alternative’ (ugh, is there a better term? I never know….) bands such as Sonic Youth, whereas in the intervening years they have matured and found their own sound, which is a kind of buoyant indie pop with a spiky edge to it. They have spent the last few years quietly doing their thing, touring around the UK and Europe with bands such as with Los Campesinos and Dananananaykroyd and releasing several 7”’s and an EP along the way. They have recently been recording their debut album at Chemikal Underground’s Chem19 studios in Glasgow and the set on this occasion was largely made up of new tracks as far as I could tell, I did request a set list post-event but apparently some kid stole it and I never received it, lost to drunken lack of memory I suspect. It was a good set anyway, I look forward to hearing the album when it appears. Godzilla Blues.

flares n seagulls

An independent alternative music magazine based in Aberdeen. Expect many pictures from shows we attend, occasional gig reviews and irregular interviews when we can manage. We also put gigs on, sometimes.

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